This is Our Christmas
by ShayLee64
Summary: When Clair suddenly loses all her Christmas spirit, a special person with a special secret, vows to help her find it again.
1. Chapter 1

Clair Peterson sat in her car, watching the tiny flurry of snowflakes coming down. Any other time in her life, the perfect snowfall on the first day of December would have made her giddy. Not this morning. The radio was playing a soft, instrumental version of 'Jingle Bells' which merely added to her annoyance.

She angrily slammed the power button and the radio went quiet. She turned her gaze to the small building nestled between two department stores: 'Maggie's Magical Sweets.' She loved working there and holiday time in a candy store was more beautiful than any Christmas-obsessed person could ever dream. At least, that's how it used to be for her. Her mother had started working there when Clair was 8. After spending countless weekends there, it became obvious that Clair had a talent and by the time she was a teenager, she was creating candies and pastries right along side Magical Maggie herself.

She finally forced herself out of the car and trudged across the parking lot. The bell above the door jingled as she entered the store. Two older women stood in front of a small Christmas tree, adorning its branches with decorations that looked like cookies. They both turned at her approach.

"Good morning, dear," the taller one said.

Clair gave her a quick hug. "Morning, Mom." She turned to give the other woman a hug as well. "Morning, Maggie."

Maggie was one of the nicest people Clair had ever known. What she lacked in height was more than made up for by the size of her heart. In their younger years, Clair and her sister had often wondered if Maggie really did possess some sort of magical charm.

Maggie's softly weathered face broke into a smile. "We were just talking about how beautiful the snow was."

Clair tried hard not to cringe in front of them. "Yeah, it's great."

"I'm glad they boys got back last night before it started," Mrs. Peterson remarked.

"Dad's back from his trip?" Clair's father was a pilot and because they lived so close to the Canadian border, charted flights to and from Alaska.

"I'm sure David will be stopping by soon. He said he has a surprise for us." After receiving his license, Maggie's son David became her father's official copilot. The week after Thanksgiving had become a special trip for David as the two men flew up north to where David's father lived. Clair had never met the man, but Maggie kept several old pictures of him in the store.

Clair walked over to the counter and observed the shelves. "Looks like you two have been busy this morning." There were racks full of delectable treats, all Christmas-themed.

"The only thing missing is the snowmen," Mrs Peterson told her. "They're in the kitchen waiting for faces and buttons."

"There's blueberry crumb cake in there too if you haven't had breakfast," Maggie called after her.

Clair made her way though the swinging set of doors into the kitchen. Sure enough, a large tray of snowman-shaped marshmallows sat on the counter. She spied two bags of icing next to the tray.

She made quick work of piping black eyes and red buttons on the snowmen. Just as she was coming up on the last one, the back door slammed, making her jump and smear the icing.

"Dammit, David!"

He stood there, looking sheepish, with a large box in his hands. "Sorry." His curly dark hair was flecked with snow and his face was flushed from the cold air. For a split second, Clair almost thought his cheeks sparkled. The two of them had known each other for most of their lives and had even gone to high school together. Though they were both nearing 25, David's face had seemed to stop aging at 18.

She picked up the botched candy. "You ruined it, you eat it."

David shrugged. "Seems fair enough." He took the messed up mallow. "Is my mother here?"

"Yes, they're in the front, decorating." She followed him out of the kitchen with her tray. She pretended to tidy up the front counter while David and his mother greeted each other.

"Dad sent these," David said, setting his box on a small table.

"Oh, the molasses," Maggie squealed. She clasped her hands to her chest. "Oh, Bernard, you always come through just in time."

Wherever it was that David's father lived, came the best molasses Clair had ever tasted. It was their secret to making the best gingerbread in town.

"There's three more boxes in the truck out back."

"I hope it'll be enough. You must be famished. I'll heat up some crumb cake and a cup of cocoa."

"Actually, I'd rather have some coffee."

The store went silent. Even Clair looked up to see what the problem was. Maggie gave a light gasp and touched her hand to her son's forehead. "Oh dear, are you ill?"

"No, Mother, I'm fine." He gave her a reassuring smile. "It's just, I drank my weight in cocoa while I was up North. I just kind of want to feel human right now."

Maggie gave him a rueful look. "Don't scare me like that."

David planted a quick peck on the cheek. "Love you too, Mother." He turned. "Clair, will you hold the back door open so I can bring these boxes in?"

Clair crossed her arms as she strolled through the kitchen. She leaned against the heavy back door, propping it open with her body, as David carted in three more boxes. She tried to subdue the sudden fuzziness that rose in her stomach as she watched the snow fall around him.


	2. Chapter 2

David finally set the last box on the counter. One look at Clair and he could sense the turmoil rising within her. Her cinnamon-sugar hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail and her mint green eyes seemed distant and serious.

He loved Clair, and the fact that they only had remained friends all their lives was not for his lack of trying. He did everything he could to let her know how he felt, but he could never figure out if she felt the same. Today, though, the inner conflict of Clair's heart seemed different. This wasn't fully brought on by his presence.

"You okay?" he asked.

Clair shrugged a little. "Yeah. Just tired is all."

"Did you and Susie get your Nutcracker tickets yet?" He tried to open up conversation to see if he could pry something out of her. "Because I can get some for free."

She hesitated before shaking her head. "I don't know if I...want to go this year."

David nearly had to stop his jaw from hitting the floor. Going to The Nutcracker was her and Susie's Christmas sister tradition. For her to suddenly not want to go was like Santa turning down a cookie. Something was very wrong. He watched her fiddle with the bag of black icing.

"Did you get your tree up at your apartment?"

"I...no."

"Have you been sick?"

"No." She slammed the bag on the table, possibly harder than she had meant to. "And I don't appreciate you coming at me like this."

"Like what? I'm just trying to talk to you."

She turned toward him, her eyes flashing angrily. "Just stop asking me stupid questions and leave me the hell alone."

"Geez, who put a tangle in your tinsel this morning?" David was already backing out of the kitchen as she muttered something under her breath. He decided pursuing the issue was not worth her hostility. He plopped down into the chair behind the cash register. "Be forewarned," he said, just loud enough for the two mothers to hear. "Talking to Clair about anything Christmas-y will get your head bit off."

Mrs Peterson approached him. "What's going on?"

"Clair. What's she so pissed about today?"

"I didn't realize she was upset."

"Are you kidding? She's got Scrooge written all over her."

"Clair a Scrooge?" She nearly laughed out loud. "That's ridiculous. She loves Christmas."

Maggie joined them at the counter. "She did seem a little down when she walked in. Maybe she's not feeling well."

David shrugged. He did not want to repeat what he had heard her mumbling. Anyone that used Christmas and the f-word in the same sentence was more than just under the weather.

"Well if she's sick," his mother said. "How about you man the phone today, David? It is the beginning of our busiest month of the year and I'm sure we're going to have a lot of preorders coming in."

David was more than happy to lend a hand at the store. The flurry of customers and the phone ringing off the hook kept him occupied and his mind off Clair. The only times he saw her were the few seconds she ventured out of the kitchen to restock items in the display case.

Just in time for lunch, the crowd had dwindled and the two mothers retreated to the office for a break. David was getting ready to put the 'closed for lunch' sign in the door, when two young girls stepped in. The younger one, who looked no more than seven, pressed her face against the glass of the display.

"Everything looks so yummy," she squeaked. "I want one of those and one of those and one of those..."

The older girl rolled her eyes. "Mom said we could each get one thing so make up your mind, Em." She looked at David. "I'll take the rice crispy bar with chocolate frosting."

David stooped next to the younger sister. "And how about you, little lady?"

"I'll have a crispy bar too. But I want the one with sprinkles."

"Two crispy bars, coming right up." He wrapped each one in parchment and placed them in the girls' eagerly waiting hands.

Em opened hers and pointed at the sprinkles. "Look, sissy, red and white, just like Santa Clause!"

David could not help but smile. As the older sister pulled out a few crumpled bills from her pocket, he shook his head. "Consider it a gift." He tapped Em's nose with his finger. "Because I can tell you have a lot of Christmas spirit."

"Is this place really magical?" Her and her sister took seats at a small table and began munching their treats.

"What's magical about it is the Christmas spirit." David knew the story behind the candy store. His mother told it to almost all the children that came into the store. "You see, when my mother Maggie was just about your age, her and her grandmother used to bake cookies to leave for Santa on Christmas Eve. One year, Santa left a note."

"What'd it say?"

"It said that her cookies were absolutely delicious and that he looked forward to coming to her house because she had the best cookies in town.

"So then she decided that if Santa loved her cookies so much, then everyone else should enjoy them too. The next year she wrote a letter to Santa asking that when she got old enough, he would help her open a bakery."

He could tell the older sister had her doubts, but he did not mind. Em's eyes were wide with fascination and her face beamed.

"So you be sure to keep that Christmas spirit alive in your heart and you never know when it could make something amazing happen."


End file.
